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Accused assassin Karen Learn sparked backlash after winking at cameras outdoors courtroom the place she is standing trial for allegedly working over her Boston cop boyfriend in a drunken match of rage.
Learn, 44, has come below scrutiny for a perceived flippant angle throughout the ongoing trial, together with snacking in courtroom and flashing smiles at her supporters.
She is accused of killing her cop boyfriend John O’Keefe in January 2022, who was discovered useless outdoors a police officer pal’s house hours after Learn dropped him off for an afterparty in January 2022.
Prosecutors contend that Learn struck O’Keefe together with her automobile, whereas her attorneys argue that she was framed by celebration attendees and members of the Boston Police Division after he was killed inside the house.
As her trial started this week, Learn obtained a slew of assist from true crime followers who’ve been camped outdoors the courthouse with indicators studying ‘Free Karen Learn.’
Many have taken to carrying pink as a present of assist for Learn, main a choose to problem an order barring any clothes or equipment that may very well be perceived as encouraging, and banning them from coming inside 200 toes of the courthouse.
Karen Learn, 44, is standing trial accused of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe together with her automobile in January 2022
Learn and O’Keefe had been out consuming on the night time of his dying, earlier than she drove him to an afterparty whereas she went house to sleep. He was discovered useless on the garden of the afterparty’s house hours later
Learn has come below scrutiny for a perceived flippant angle in courtroom, together with winking at cameras and snacking throughout proceedings
On the second day of Learn’s trial on Wednesday, she was seen being flanked by a lot of legal professionals, cameras and supporters, who cheered her title as she smiled and waved.
At one stage, Learn smiled at a digicam as she flashed a big wink, sparking backlash on-line amongst a few of her detractors.
‘Happiest homicide defendant in historical past!’ mentioned one on Twitter. ‘The Chick thinks she is Miss America.’
One other commented: ‘It’s a homicide trial not a visitors ticket she’s combating. Unhealthy search for the jury.’
As of Wednesday, the second day of the trial, the courtroom has continued jury choice, with round 80 p.c of potential jurors dismissed amid fervent on-line consideration across the case.
Learn, a monetary analyst and school professor, is dealing with costs of second-degree homicide, as prosecutors say she drunkenly drove over O’Keefe on January 29, 2022.
She had spent the night consuming with O’Keefe and a bunch of buddies on the Waterfall Bar and Grill in Canton, round 14 miles south of Boston, and had been invited to his pal Brian Albert’s house for an afterparty.
Learn, who prosecutors say drank a number of alcoholic drinks beforehand, determined to drop O’Keefe on the afterparty earlier than she went to O’Keefe’s house – that he shared together with his orphaned niece and nephew – to sleep at round 1am.
Court docket paperwork revealed that the couple had been bitterly arguing for weeks beforehand, and on the night time O’Keefe died, Learn left him a voicemail calling him a ‘f****** loser’, and ‘John, I f****** hate you.’
The couple had been courting for 2 years on the time of O’Keefe’s dying. He had been serving on the Boston Police Division for 16 years.
Learn sparked backlash on Tuesday after being filmed winking at a digicam, with one critic slamming her for ‘pondering she is Miss America’
John O’Keefe had been serving with the Boston Police Division for 16 years on the time of his dying, which was dominated to have been brought on by blunt affect accidents and hypothermia
Prosecutors allege that Learn hit O’Keefe together with her automobile after an argument, whereas she contends that she was framed by celebration attendees and members of the Boston Police Division
As her trial started this week, Learn obtained a slew of assist from true crime followers and locals who’ve been camped outdoors the courthouse with indicators studying ‘Free Karen Learn’
This week, a choose to problem an order barring Learn’s supporters from coming inside 200 toes of the courthouse
Because the celebration went on inside Albert’s house, who was a retired Boston police officer, Learn mentioned she awoke round 4am to search out that he was not at house, and advised O’Keefe’s niece that she was ‘distraught.’
Attendees on the celebration, together with some legislation enforcement, claimed O’Keefe by no means arrived on the celebration or entered the house.
Learn then looked for O’Keefe with a pal, and prosecutors allege that throughout the search she speculated: ‘What if he is useless? What if a plow hit him?… I do not keep in mind something from final night time, we drank a lot I do not keep in mind something.’
At 6am, Learn discovered O’Keefe laying within the snow outdoors Albert’s house, and a primary responder on the scene reportedly claimed Learn repeatedly cried out, ‘I hit him, I hit him’, studies CBS Information.
O’Keefe was rushed to hospital, the place he was pronounced useless. An post-mortem discovered that the reason for dying was blunt affect accidents and hypothermia.
Nonetheless, Learn’s protection crew declare that this was ‘false and misleading testimony’ that the grand jury heard that indicted Learn for homicide.
Learn had additionally allegedly advised her buddies throughout the search that she cracked her tail gentle, and items of a damaged cocktail glass and a tail gentle had been discovered round O’Keefe’s physique, prosecutors say.
As the school professor argues she was framed by law enforcement officials on the celebration, previous to jury choice on the primary day of trial, the choose dominated that she wouldn’t cease her authorized crew from mounting a ‘third celebration wrongdoer protection.’
The tactic is utilized by attorneys to argue that somebody apart from the defendant dedicated the crime in query.
The choose mentioned: ‘I’ll provide you with an opportunity to develop it by means of related, competent, admissible proof… however you can’t open with it.’
O’Keefe was discovered within the snow outdoors this house in Canton, round 12 miles from Boston, within the early hours of January 29, 2022
Learn, a monetary analyst and school professor, is dealing with costs of second-degree homicide
She has compiled a crew of blockbuster attorneys, together with Alan Jackson (middle), famed for representing actor Kevin Spacey when he was cleared of sexual assault costs in 2019
Learn has additionally compiled a blockbuster authorized crew for her protection, together with legal professional Alan Jackson, famed for representing actor Kevin Spacey when he was cleared of sexual assault costs in 2019.
Her claims of innocence additionally coincide with an FBI probe into the investigation of the dying, looking for to see if there may be any advantage to her claims that she was framed.
Learn’s protection attorneys argue that O’Keefe was concerned in a combat inside Albert’s house, and introduced proof that they claimed confirmed he had been in an altercation, together with wounds on his arms they are saying got here from Albert’s canine.
Albert has not been charged with any crime.
In presenting photos of the cop’s arms, Jackson insisted to the choose that the claims of framing had been ‘not simply fishing.’
‘We have got a fish on the hook, we simply want the courtroom to assist us reel it in,’ he mentioned.
The couple had been courting for 2 years on the time of O’Keefe’s dying
‘Definitely the Massachusetts State Police is concerned. There are people who had been in that home which can be concerned,’ Jackson claimed at a pre-trial listening to.
‘Brian Albert is concerned. Jennifer McCabe is concerned. The remainder of the parents that had been in that home, there’s some stage of involvement by each considered one of them.
‘Each single considered one of them. We’re not going to relaxation till we resolve precisely who’s behind this coverup. Not solely Karen Learn deserves this. John O’Keefe deserves this, and has deserved this from second one. And that is why they don’t seem to be going to relaxation.’
Learn additionally spoke to reporters on the steps of the courthouse at a pre-trial listening to in Might 2023, the place she claimed that she and her attorneys ‘know who did it.’
‘We all know. And we all know who spearheaded this coverup. You all know,’ she mentioned. ‘I attempted to save lots of his life. I attempted to save lots of his life at 6 within the morning, I used to be coated in his blood. I used to be the one one making an attempt to save lots of his life.’
Norfolk Assistant District Lawyer Adam Lally countered that there’s ‘no proof that Mr. O’Keefe was overwhelmed and left for useless.’
